India Inc Can Learn From US Pushback Against Ivy League Wokeism. Modi Government Can Help Stiffen Spines

India, especially its businessmen, should learn a lesson from what is happening in America following the outrage over the positions taken by three Ivy League presidents, who could not bring themselves to say unequivocally that calling for the genocide of Jews is wrong.

They were merely asked to affirm that something will be done to prevent anti-Semitic activism from threatening the safety of Jews on campus, but failed to do so (Watch this YouTube video here).

The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Harvard and MIT could not bring themselves to simply say that calling for genocide is equivalent to harassment.

They implied that calls for genocide must be judged from the “context” in which statements may have been made. It also depended on whether such free or hurtful speech was likely to turn into “conduct” — ie, an actual violent action against Jews.

As outrage in media and both sides of the political spectrum grew, some donors to the institutions either withdrew funding, or threatened to do so. UPenn’s President Liz Magill was forced to resign, but the presidents of Harvard and MIT, Claudine Gay and Sally Kornbluth,  appeared to be hanging on.

Gay was backed by Harvard’s board, and Kornbluth by MIT’s. Gay is probably helped by the fact that she is a person of colour, and any action against her may be seen as racist by America’s large Afro-American population.

One report quoting Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, said the Harvard board stood by Gay because it did not want to be seen as kowtowing to his aggressive and public demands for her resignation.

A few days ago, huge billboard trucks were roaming around Harvard demanding Gay’s resignation, which were similar to the billboards sent around exposing students who supported Hamas after the 7 October terror attacks on Israel.

The students who signed the petition were doxxed and told that they would not be recruited, and some, in turn, claimed that petitions supporting Hamas did not have their explicit consent.

What Indian businessmen should learn from this is that money power can play a role in pushing back against destructive wokeism (ie Marxism reborn for the 21st century) and cancel culture, which is what these Ivy League institutions have been promoting.

Many Indian businessmen, from the Mahindras to the Piramals and Mittals, have donated large sums of money to their alma maters, but there is no reverse accountability on what this money is used for, even if it is to support ideas and forces that want to break India by widening its fault lines. This is a critical theme in Rajiv Malhotra’s best-selling book, Snakes in The Ganga. (See this video of Malhotra to learn more)

The question India Inc needs to ask itself is a simple one: why fund the same forces that want to denigrate and damage India just for the psychic pleasure of being wined and dined by Ivy League presidents and faculty, and for gaining access to status networks in corporate America? Is their money not enough to get this done directly?

The reason why businesses support woke Marxist ideas in academics is no different from why shopkeepers and small businesses pay protection money to street thugs and criminals. You pay them so that they don’t turn on you.

In short, you support the forces which have no love lost for India or business, but will accept your money and use it to wage their larger war against business in general.

This is ultimately self-defeating for any business. And since they won’t develop the spine to take on these woke bullies themselves, it may be time for the government to get into the act.

The Human Resource and Development Minister, if not the Prime Minister, should call all businessmen who are investing in Harvard and other Ivy League institutions that they should be doing the following.

First, their past donations must be audited on end-use, especially if the money is used to promote violent and dangerous ideologies in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Diversity is good, but must include ideological diversity, too. These donations must not be used for pushing ideological and other biases.

Second, while donations to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) faculty and chairs may do no harm, donations to the social sciences, which is where these extreme neo-Marxist ideas are incubated to the detriment of society in general, should be either stopped or forensically audited with external support.

The government can issue a veiled warning that if India Inc still supports such anti-India ideas, it may have to ban such donations from India, at least. 

Third, the government can create a panel of Indian intellectuals (Rajiv Malhotra should surely be one of them) who can help design these audits.

Fourth, Indian businesses in India, who are also funding so-called “liberal arts” programmes in private universities, should ensure that there is high ideological diversity in the faculty and curricula created with their money.

These private universities, Ashoka and Jindal among them, should be regularly audited by neutral experts who will certify that there is adequate diversity in teaching and pedagogy, and that campuses do not practise cancel culture to shut down dissenting voices.

The US has begun a calibrated pushback against dangerously woke Marxism. It is time to tell Indian Inc to do the same, both here and in the alma maters they fund. If they don't, the Narendra Modi government should help stiffen their spines.